Animation director/producer Conrad Vernon and producer/development executive Danielle Sterling announced their new animation production company, Straight Up Creative. Dedicated to producing original content for a global audience with ‘an edgy take,’ the label’s first project will be an animated feature currently in development at Netflix Animation, with John Stamos attached as producer and Ali Adler (Supergirl) and Zoë Worth (Thelma) as writers.
Vernon is a veteran animator, director, producer and voice-over actor with more than three decades of experience. As a director, he helmed Shrek 2, Monsters vs. Aliens and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted for DreamWorks Animation, before taking on director and producer roles for the irreverent adult comedy Sausage Party (released by Sony) and both The Addams Family animated pics (MGM/United Artists). He recently served as an episodic director on Nickelodeon’s Rock, Paper, Scissors and is supervising director for Prime Video’s Sausage Party: Foodtopia, premiering July 11.
Sterling began her career at MGM Studios before being named SVP of Davis Entertainment, where she helped bring live-action features such as I, Robot to the screen. She then moved into indie animation, co-founding 3QU Media. As the studio’s Producer and Head of Development, she produced the feature films Charming, Gnome Alone, Fearless and Dog Gone Trouble, which were all released through Netflix. Sterling was also a co-producer on The Addams Family and producer on the sequel.
To help fuel Straight Up’s slate, Lauren Ito has been appointed as Head of Development, and Jeremy Ross has been tapped as Chief Operating Officer.
Ito has worked on more than 30 films across various genres, covering roles across development, on-set and post-production. Her credits include the live-action films Precious Cargo, Camera Store, The Babysitter and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, and series including 12 Deadly Days and Brockmire.
Ross was also a founding partner of 3QU Media, which specialized in financing and producing animated features, where he was responsible for developing and executing the firm’s production
and financing strategy as well as CG vendor management. Prior to this, he held a senior executive role at Wilmer Valderrama’s WV Enterprises, producing long and short-form content across animation and other genres. He served as Head of Business Affairs & Business Development for Prana Studios (Planes, Disney’s Tinkerbell franchise), and previously oversaw financial and legal affairs for Vanguard Animation (Happily N’Ever After, Valiant, Space Chimps). Ross also served as exec producer on the Oscar-winning animated short, If Anything Happens I Love You (Netflix).
[Source: Deadline]
